BNRC helps with rent assistance

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This article was published 01/08/2023 (962 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Housing is a basic need for any human being, says a Westman advocate for the community’s less fortunate, as she reacts to the looming rent increase many could face at the start of the new year.

The Manitoba government advised last week it would set the 2024 rent increase guideline to three per cent, which is the first increase in three years. The rate was held at zero per cent in 2022 and 2023.

This time, the guideline is set at three per cent despite inflation being far higher because it is limited by the Bank of Canada’s target inflation range of one to three per cent, according to an announcement from the province.

It applies to most residential rental properties including apartments, single rooms, houses, and duplexes.

Before putting the increase in place, the government should try to control inflation, said Fatima Praise, rent supplement co-ordinator with Brandon Neighbourhood Renewal Corporation (BNRC).

“It’s not a good thing to happen to people when they are already struggling with paying for the groceries and everything, it’s difficult for everyone,” Praise said.

The BNRC is involved with a new program for people who need assistance paying their rent called the Canada-Manitoba Housing Benefit.

The benefit is monthly financial support, or a rent top-up of a maximum of $350 per month, and is available to Canadian citizens, permanent residents or refugee claimants who live in private rental accommodations, excluding Manitoba Housing.

Those who are eligible to receive the Canada-Manitoba Housing Benefit include two groups of people, the first are those who are receiving rent assist from the Manitoba government through Employment and Income Assistance (EIA), the second, low-income Manitobans who are renting or paying room and board in unsubsidized housing.

The BNRC handles Canada-Manitoba Housing Benefit clients across Manitoba except for those in Winnipeg and Thompson. And still, there are many who are unaware that the non-EIA rent assist program even exists, said Charity Praise-Gadsby, BNRC’s rental supplement co-ordinator.

“We had a client who makes $44,000 annually who thought she would not qualify, but is getting probably $50 per month from the non-EIA rent assist and her rent is about $1,300 a month. So, it’s based on a ratio, and because she’s paying a lot more for rent, she also qualifies for the maximum for our program,” Praise-Gadsby said.

The top-up program like the Canada-Manitoba Housing Benefit is beneficial, but it is a short-term solution to a bigger problem, said Sam Van Den Ham, program co-ordinator at Brandon Housing First.

Van Den Ham added it allows some time for the province to increase funding to other programs and services for affordable housing, whether it’s for programs and support services or incentives for landlords.

“They increased the EIA rent assist by four dollars. So those on assistance get $616 a month. But the average apartment in Brandon is $725 to 850 for a bachelor unit and that often does not include the utilities.

So when we’re looking at adding three per cent onto that for an apartment that’s $850, that’s $25 a month, which would be $300 annually that an individual could lose off of their basic needs if they’re not connected to a rent supplement program.”

The three per cent rent increase is a guideline and is just one of the types of potential increases that renters could face, according to Adrien Sala, NDP’s critic for finance.

Under the Residential Tenancies Act, the government sets the maximum allowable yearly increase for landlords, but property owners and managers can apply for above-guideline increases and those can sit at much higher rates.

“For example, in Manitoba, between 2018 and 2022, we had about 23,000 units every single year that had these above guideline increases, and those increases can range anywhere between five to 50 per cent,” Sala told the Sun.

We have seen housing affordability in Manitoba go into full on crisis mode, and one of the biggest contributors to our housing affordability crisis is the above guideline rent increases.”

A properly managed above guideline increase program, Sala added, would include a building owner who had an exceptionally large capital cost like a new roof, or boiler, putting them in financial hardship because of that required investment.

“In the last three years, I and our Manitoba NDP opposition team brought forward a bill, which was the Residential Tenancies Amendment Act, that would have put a stop to these out of control above guideline increases, but the government wasn’t interested in passing it,” Sala said.

But if we have an opportunity to serve in government, we’re committed to passing that legislation and making sure we put a stop to these above guideline increases, which are hammering Manitobans in every corner of the province.”

The 2024, three per cent rent increase guideline goes into effect Jan. 1.

Tenants must receive written notice of a rent increase at least three months before the increase takes effect.

For a rent increase to take effect Jan. 1, 2024, tenants must receive notice by Sept. 30, 2023.

» mmcdougall@brandonsun.com

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